Rickettsia spp. Infecting Lone Star Ticks (Amblyomma americanum) (Acari: Ixodidae) in Monmouth County, New Jersey

Tick-borne rickettsiae are undergoing epidemiological changes in the eastern United States while human encounters with lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum L.) have increased substantially. We used real-time polymerase chain reaction assays to test for three species of spotted fever group rickettsi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of medical entomology 2020-05, Vol.57 (3), p.974-978
Main Authors: Egizi, Andrea, Gable, Sydney, Jordan, Robert A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amblyomma - growth & development
Amblyomma - microbiology
Amblyomma americanum
Animals
Arachnid Vectors - growth & development
Arachnid Vectors - microbiology
Arachnids
Bacterial diseases
Epidemiology
Lyme disease
Mountains
New Jersey
Nymph - growth & development
Nymph - microbiology
Pathogenicity
Pathogens
Polymerase chain reaction
public health entomology
Rickettsia
Rickettsia - isolation & purification
Rickettsia rickettsii - isolation & purification
Rocky Mountain spotted fever
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
Species
surveillance
Ticks
Vector-borne diseases
vector-borne pathogens
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Summary:Tick-borne rickettsiae are undergoing epidemiological changes in the eastern United States while human encounters with lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum L.) have increased substantially. We used real-time polymerase chain reaction assays to test for three species of spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFGR) (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) in 1,858 nymphal A. americanum collected from Monmouth County, New Jersey, a coastal county with endemic Lyme disease and established tick surveillance. Out of the 1,858 tested, 465 (25.0%) were infected with Rickettsia amblyommatis Karpathy, a species of undetermined pathogenicity found frequently in A. americanum, while 1/1,858 (0.05%) contained Rickettsia rickettsii Brumpt, the agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. No ticks tested positive for mildly pathogenic Rickettsia parkeri Lackman, and no ticks were co-infected with multiple Rickettsia spp. Our results indicate that A. americanum could be involved in transmission of R. rickettsii to humans in New Jersey, albeit rarely. The much higher rates of R. amblyommatis infection are consistent with hypotheses that human sera reacting to this species could contribute to reports of mild SFGR cases.
ISSN:0022-2585
1938-2928
DOI:10.1093/jme/tjz251